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Monday, September 9, 2013

Fresh from the Garden - Turkey Harvest Stew

My mother in law (Oma a.k.a Grandma) has an AMAZING garden. Seriously, amazing. This year it has been incredibly plentiful. Since Alexa started eating solids, most of the vegetables for her baby food has come from Oma's garden. Peas, green beans, wax beans, zucchini, squash, and now butternut squash and pumpkin! Oma brought over a huge bag of freshly picked squash, butternut squash and a huge pumpkin and I had to figure out what to do with all of it.

I searched a little online for butternut squash recipes. I ended up making my own butternut squash soup which was delicious! Then Oma brought over two more butternut squashes! It was clear I was going to have to whip something up with all of these delicious veggies...I give you - Turkey Harvest Stew.

I had enough stew to freeze for another dinner for Michael and I, I pureed and froze some for Alexa, put aside some for Michael to take for lunch AND still had enough leftover for our dinner and my lunch the following day!

**Please note: this recipe yields 5 liters of stew!**

All veggies add! It just needs to simmer and thicken up.

(Unfortunately, there are no after pictures because we ate it all up!)

Directions:
In the order listed above, I peeled, diced and placed the ingredients into their specific containers. After cutting up all the hard veggies and placing them in Bowl 1, I filled the bowl with cold water until the veggies were covered. Put that aside.

In a large stock pot, heat 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil over medium to high heat. Add in your onions and garlic and let cook for about 3 minutes. (You might want to turn the heat down a little bit). While the onions and garlic are sauteeing, prep your flour and seasonings in a ziploc bag. Then cut the turkey breast up into small pieces. Add all of the turkey to the ziploc bag, seal and shake until all pieces are coated.

Add the turkey to the pot and stir with a wooden spoon to keep the flour from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add more coconut oil. Cover and let cook for 3-5 minutes until the turkey is lightly browned. Add 2 cups of chicken broth (the liquid should just cover the turkey). Cover and let cook on medium for 15 minutes. Add the contents of Bowl 1. Add 2 cups of veggie broth, cover and let cook on medium for 15 minutes. Add the contents of Bowl 2, the can of crushed tomatoes and enough water (if necessary) to cover the vegetables. Add the rosemary. Add 1 Tablespoon of tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer - let cook for 45 minutes to one hour.

Using a ladle, remove 3-4 ladles worth of stock and place in a small pot (you will use this to cook your noodles). Add 1-1 1/2 cups of dry noodles and boil for 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add to the stock pot. Add parmesan cheese and cook for another 10 minutes on low. Enjoy!